Fuse Manufacturing Method

This application is a continuation of International Patent Application No. PCT/CN2023/096528, filed on May 26, 2023, which claims the benefit of priority from Chinese Patent Application No. 202310241395.3, filed on Mar. 14, 2023. The content of the aforementioned application, including any intervening amendments thereto, is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

This application relates to manufacturing of automobile parts, and more particularly to a fuse manufacturing method.

Automotive fuses involve two critical operation parameters: rated current and rated voltage. In practical applications, it is required to select an appropriate fuse based on the circuit's current and voltage to ensure the safe operation.

Automotive fuses generally adopt a blade-type design, which includes an engineering plastic housing and a zinc or copper fuse element encapsulated therein. The fuse element is connected to a blade terminal.

In the conventional manufacturing processes, multiple copper wires are first surface-mounted to keep the fuse position fixed, and further processed into the desired shape and size. This method has simple operation and low process requirements. However, this manufacturing process will make the fuse exposed (i.e., not covered by the insulating film), thereby resulting in oxidation.

An object of the disclosure is to provide a fuse manufacturing method to overcome the defects in the prior art that the fuse products are prone to oxidation in the industrial production.

Technical solutions of the present disclosure are described as follows.

A fuse manufacturing method using a machine tool, the machine tool comprising a control device, a wire feeding assembly, a circular cutting assembly, a laminating assembly and a wire winding assembly; the wire feeding assembly, the circular cutting assembly, the laminating assembly and the wire winding assembly being electrically connected to the control device; and the fuse manufacturing method comprising:

In some embodiments, the laminating assembly comprises a support structure, a first insulating film conveying structure, a second insulating film conveying structure, a metal conductor conveying structure, a first thermal pressing structure, and a traction structure;

In some embodiments, the insulating film assembly comprises a first insulating film and a second insulating film both made of polyethylene (PE); and

In some embodiments, the laminating assembly further comprises a first reinforcing structure and a second reinforcing structure;

In some embodiments, the first insulating film conveying structure comprises an insulating film placement shaft, a tension regulator, and a punching die sequentially arranged on the support structure;

In some embodiments, the second insulating film conveying structure comprises an insulating film placement shaft, a tension regulator and a punching die sequentially arranged on the support structure;

In some embodiments, the metal conductor conveying structure comprises a wire frame, a first pitch rod, a wire guide roller and a second pitch rod; and the first pitch rod, the wire guide roller and the second pitch rod are arranged sequentially and spaced apart on the wire frame;

In some embodiments, the first thermal pressing structure comprises a first cooling tube set, a thermal pressing roller set and a second cooling tube set arranged spaced apart in the first direction;

In some embodiments, the machine tool further comprises a second thermal pressing structure and an isolation film placement shaft;

In some embodiments, the traction structure comprises a balancing pressure roller set and a traction roller arranged spaced apart in the second direction; and the balancing pressure roller set and the traction roller are rotatably provided on the support structure;

In some embodiments, the circular cutting processing assembly comprises a circular cutting mounting frame, a first circular cutting mold, and a second circular cutting mold. The first circular cutting mold and the second circular cutting mold are detachably mounted on the circular cutting mounting frame. The first circular cutting mold is configured to cooperate with the second circular cutting mold;

In some embodiments, in a region near the first thermal pressing structure, a conveying surface of the metal conductor conveying structure is parallel to a conveying surface of the first insulating film conveying structure and a conveying surface of the second insulating film conveying structure, respectively.

In some embodiments, each component of the first insulating film conveying structure and the second insulating film conveying structure is arranged symmetrically with respect to the first thermal pressing assembly, so as to achieve more controllable tension balance.

Compared to the prior art, the present disclosure has the following beneficial effects.

The metal conductor of the to-be-processed fuse material is processed by the circular cutting assembly to obtain the plurality of target metal conductors corresponding to the target fuse. The plurality of target metal conductors and the insulating film assembly are positioned at the target position on the laminating assembly. The plurality of target metal conductors and the insulating film assembly are laminated by the laminating assembly to form the target fuse. The target fuse is wound by the winding assembly. This configuration effectively prevents the processed target fuse from being exposed to ambient air, thereby mitigating the risk of oxidation.

It should be understood that the following description is provided for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Specific system configurations, structural arrangements and technical details are provided to facilitate a thorough understanding of the described embodiments. However, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present disclosure may be implemented without these specific details. In other instances, well-known systems, devices, circuits and methods are not described in detail so as not to obscure the essence of the present disclosure.

It should be understood that, as used herein, the term “comprise” refers to the presence of the recited features, entities, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but does not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, entities, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or combinations thereof.

It should be understood that, as used herein, the term “and/or” refers to any one or more of the associated listed items and all possible combinations thereof, and is intended to be inclusive of all such combinations.

As used herein, the term “if” refers to “when”, “upon”, “in response to determining” or “in response to detecting” depending on the present disclosure. The phrases “if it is determined” or “if it is detected (that a condition or event occurs)” refer to “upon determining”, “in response to determining”, “upon detecting (the condition or event)” or “in response to detecting (the condition or event)” depending on the present disclosure.

As used herein, terms such as “first”, “second” and “third” are only descriptive, and should not be construed as indicating or implying their relative importance or implicitly specifying the number of technical features indicated.

As used herein, the terms “an embodiment” and “some embodiments” refer to one or more embodiments that include specific features, structures, or characteristics described in connection therewith. As a result, the appearances of the phrases “in an embodiment” and “in some embodiments” throughout this specification do not necessarily all refer to the same embodiment, unless otherwise explicitly stated. The terms “comprise”, “include” and “have” are intended to be open-ended and mean “including but not limited to,” unless expressly specified otherwise.

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a fuse manufacturing method that can be applied to production equipment such as a machine tool. The specific type of terminal equipment is not limited in the embodiments of the present disclosure.

The following provides a detailed description of various components of the machine tool shown in.

The machine tool includes a control device and a wire feeding assembly, a circular cutting assembly, a laminating assemblyand a wire winding assembly. The wire feeding assembly, the circular cutting assembly, the laminating assemblyand the wire winding assemblyare respectively electrically connected to the control device.

The control device can be implemented using existing hardware compatible with machine tool automation control systems, such as various control chips or control terminals. The wire feeding assembly, the circular cutting assembly, the laminating assembly, and the wire winding assemblyare sequentially arranged spaced apart in a first direction within the workshop. The wire feeding assemblyis provided with a plurality of wire racks, each of the plurality of wire racks is configured to hold a plurality of metal conductor coils and guides a leading end of each of the metal conductor coils through a primary wire guide roller to achieve wire arrangement. The circular cutting assemblyis configured to process the metal conductor to obtain a plurality of target metal conductors. The laminating assemblyis configured to perform thermal pressing of a first insulating film, a second insulating film, a first isolation film and a second isolation film onto the processed target metal conductors, thereby isolating the processed target metal conductors from the external environment to achieve anti-oxidation. During the production process, the first insulating film, the second insulating film, the first isolation film and the second isolation film are all continuous products. The finished product is wound by the wire winding assemblyto enable batch production, convenient storage and transportation.

In an embodiment, the laminating assembly includes a support structure, a first insulating film conveying structure, a second insulating film conveying structure, a metal conductor conveying structure, a first thermal pressing structure, a second thermal pressing structure and a traction structure. The support structure is sequentially provided with the first insulating film conveying structure, the first thermal pressing structure, the second insulating film conveying structure, the second thermal pressing structure and the traction structure in a first direction. The support structure is sequentially provided with the first insulating film conveying structure and the metal conductor conveying structure in a second direction.

The first insulating film conveying structure and the second insulating film conveying structure are respectively provided on two sides of the first thermal pressing structure, and are spatially-symmetrically arranged with respect to the first thermal pressing structure. Center axes of the first insulating film conveying structure, the second insulating film conveying structure, the metal conductor conveying structure, the first thermal pressing structure, the second thermal pressing structure, and the traction structure are located in a plane in a conveying direction.

Specifically, the first direction and the second direction are arranged at an angle with respect to each other, thereby enabling a spatially rational arrangement of the support structure, the first insulating film conveying structure, the second insulating film conveying structure, the metal conductor conveying structure, the first thermal pressing structure, the second thermal pressing structure and the traction structure. This configuration prevents potential entanglement or mutual interference during the conveying of the first insulating film, the second insulating film and the target metal conductors. Specifically, the first insulating film conveying structure and the second insulating film conveying structure are respectively provided on two sides of the first thermal pressing structure, and are spatially-symmetrically arranged with respect to the first thermal pressing structure, thereby ensuring that the processing of the first and second insulating films is performed independently and without mutual interference. This also reduces the possibility of static attraction between the first insulating film and the second insulating film, thereby further ensuring the flatness of the first and second insulating films. The improved flatness facilitates proper alignment between holes formed in the first insulating film, the second insulating film and the metal conductor, and prevents misalignment resulting from wrinkling of the first and second insulating films due to uneven tension during transport. In some embodiments, the first insulating film conveying structure and the second insulating film conveying structure are arranged vertically in space. Such vertical arrangement, combined with proper spacing and conveying angles design, ensures balanced force distribution without the need for additional calculations, thereby simplifying machine installation.

It should be noted that, the first insulating film conveying structure, the second insulating film conveying structure, the metal conductor conveying structure, the first thermal pressing structure, the second thermal pressing structure and the traction structure are each independently rotatably mounted on the support structure. The support structure can be a support frame of various shapes as required. The support structure is configured to independently rotatably support the first insulating film conveying structure, the second insulating film conveying structure, the metal conductor conveying structure, the first thermal pressing structure, the second thermal pressing structure and the traction structure. The rotatable supported may be implemented using conventional rotation-fixation mechanisms, such as gears.

In some embodiments, the first insulating film and the second insulating film are made of polyethylene (PE).

In an embodiment, the laminating assembly further includes a first reinforcing structure and a second reinforcing structure. In the conveying direction, center axes of the first reinforcing structure and the second reinforcing structure are located in the plane.

The first reinforcing structure and the second reinforcing structure are configured to reinforce two ends of the target fuse simultaneously, thereby increasing reinforcement speed.

In an embodiment, the first insulating film conveying structure includes a first insulating film placement shaft, a first tension regulator, and a first punching diesequentially arranged on the support structure. The first insulating film placement shaftis arranged spatially symmetrically with respect to a center axis of the first insulating film conveying structure. The first tension regulatoris arranged spatially symmetrically with respect to the center axis of the first insulating film conveying structure. The first punching dieis arranged spatially symmetrically with respect to the center axis of the first insulating film conveying structure. The first insulating film placement shaftis configured to detachably mount the first insulating film.

Specifically, the first insulating film placement shaftis configured to hold a roll of the first insulating film. The first tension regulatoris configured to provide feedback regulation of tension to ensure appropriate tension and elongation of the film conveyed to the first punching die, thereby preventing punching position errors caused by wrinkles. The first punching dieis configured to perform punching according to a first punching scheme corresponding to the metal conductor. In the first insulating film conveying structure, after the roll of the first insulating film is mounted on the first insulating film placement shaft, a leading end of the first insulating film is sequentially fixed to the first tension regulatorand the first punching die.

Specifically, the first tension regulatorand the first punching dieare arranged spaced apart by a fixed distance from each other to ensure uniform force distribution. The fix distance can be adjusted by engineers during actual installation.

In an embodiment, the second insulating film conveying structure includes a second insulating film placement shaft, a second tension regulator, and a second punching diesequentially arranged on the support structure. The second insulating film placement shaftis arranged spatially symmetrically with respect to a center axis of the second insulating film conveying structure. The second tension regulatoris arranged spatially symmetrically with respect to the center axis of the second insulating film conveying structure. The second punching dieis arranged spatially symmetrically with respect to the center axis of the second insulating film conveying structure. The second insulating film placement shaftis configured to detachably mount the second insulating film.

The second insulating film placement shaftis configured to hold a roll of the second insulating film. The second tension regulatoris configured to perform feedback adjustment of tension to ensure appropriate tension and elongation of the film conveyed to the second punching die, thereby preventing punching position errors caused by wrinkles. The second punching dieis configured to perform punching according to a second punching scheme corresponding to the target metal wire. Within the second insulating film conveying structure, after the roll of the second insulating film is mounted on the second insulating film placement shaft, a starting end of the roll of the second insulating film is sequentially fixed to the second tension regulatorand the second punching die.

In an embodiment, the machine tool further includes an isolation film placement shaft. The second thermal pressing structure is provided between the second insulating film conveying structure and the traction structure. The isolation film placement shaftis arranged above the second thermal pressing structure, and is configured for placement of the first isolation film and the second isolation film.

The type of the first isolation film and the second isolation film can be selected as needed.

Specifically, the second tension regulatorand the second punching dieare arranged spaced apart at a fixed distance from each other to ensure uniform force distribution. The fix distance can be adjusted by engineers during actual installation.

In an embodiment, the laminating assembly further includes a first reinforcing plateand a first sensor. In the first direction, the first sensor and the first reinforcing plateare sequentially arranged toward the second insulating film conveying structure.

The first sensor is configured to detect a first end of a metal conductor of the target fuse. Upon detection, the target fuse is reinforced by the first reinforcing plate. The first reinforcing plateis mounted on the support structure using hot melt adhesive.

In an embodiment, the laminating assembly further includes a second reinforcing plateand a second sensor. In the first direction, the second sensor and the second reinforcing plateare sequentially arranged toward the second insulating film conveying structure.